


Today's adventure: Ruckus at Raven Rock!

by Kate_A_OConnell



Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Self-Hatred, Survivor Guilt, Torture, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_A_OConnell/pseuds/Kate_A_OConnell
Summary: Once again a truly -Lone- wanderer, Eryn "Ryn" Connelly finds herself in the clutches of the Enclave.  But how can this be!  Colonel Autumn alive and well?  Her own dear Father and faithful ghoul protector truly dead?  Just what is it that the mysterious John Henry Eden wants with her and her father's faulty water purifier?  And will our violently vexed vaultie be able to pull herself from the depths of despair and become our beloved Wasteland Avenger once again?Stay tuned to find out!****Story inspired by Whumptober 2020:Prompts involved:No. 1: Let’s hang out some time: Waking up restrainedNo 2: In the Hands of the Enemy: KidnappedNo 4: Running out of Time: Collasp(sing) BuildingNo 5: Where do you Think You’re Going?:  On the Run/RescueNo 7: I’ve Got You: Carrying
Kudos: 4
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Today's adventure: Ruckus at Raven Rock!

**Author's Note:**

> Major spoilers for and actual dialog from Fallout 3.

_You’re listening to the adventures of Eryn “The Lone Wanderer” Connelly, and her stalwart ghoul guardian, Charon!  
Today’s story: Ruckus at Raven Rock!_

I came to with a start…and promptly regretted it as the blood vessels in my head went haywire, making it feel as though my head were being used as an instrument in the Anvil chorus. I barely suppressed a groan as my aching head lolled upwards, my neck muscles screaming in protest. While my eyes were far too sensitive at the moment to open them fully, I immediately became aware of two things: I was bound in tight metallic restraints holding me upright against a wall… and I was not alone. “Who…?” I croaked hesitantly, struggling to remember what had happened to cause me to black out _this_ time.

_We had been in a vault… A hellish place, hot and putrid, covered in viscera and gore. A place of torment and torture…. And then there was a flash, a jolt, and then the cold… so very cold… and then, a familiar face gloating over my prone form…_

My eyes snapped open, despite the agony of the light, while adrenaline rushed like frozen electricity through my nervous system. Colonel Autumn smirked and sidled up to me casually. “So, you’re awake,” he sneered.

“You…alive…” I wheezed back in horrified amazement. “How…”

“That ain’t none of your concern, little missy,” he drawled back. “Now, let’s keep this nice and simple. You’re going to tell me the code for that Purifier, and you’re going to tell me now.”

I gaped at him, this evil bastard who had killed my father. Or, well, had made him so desperate as to kill himself, anyway. …Or had he? If Colonel Autumn was here, alive… “Where’s my father?” I choked out, my voice rusty and rough in my throat. 

He just narrowed his eyes and scowled. “Burnin’ in Hell with all the other traitors, I reckon. Where you’re gonna be too if you don’t answer my question.”

I shook my head as best I could in my restraints. “If you’re here, then where is he? Or…At least… tell me what did you do with him…with his body…?”

Autumn’s perfect face curled into a malicious scowl. “Well, now, can’t say I rightly know. I certainly wasn’t _conscious_ of any efforts to save his worthless hide, you know. Why, if there’s any justice in this world, they strung him up from a tall tree and let the crows take care of him.”

His words were cruel, painting a horrible image in my mind, and yet… He didn’t know? If he didn’t know, then was there a chance? It wasn’t like Charon and I had been able to get back into the purifier to recover….

“Charon!” I exclaimed suddenly, my muddled train of thought violently shifting track. Seeing Autumn had distracted me from what honestly should have been the more pressing concern. My long suffering partner, after all, had _definitely_ still been alive when I had last been able to hold a coherent thought for longer than 5 seconds. “Please, my partner, where is he?”

Autumn just raised a brow. “Your partner….? Ohhhh, you mean that hulking monstrosity of a shambler that follows you around?”

I grimaced at his phrasing, but nodded. “His name is Charon…”  
My captor snorted. “Well, if there’s any mercy in this God forsaken hellscape, he’s dead. And you will be too if you don’t stop wasting my time and…!”

“What do you mean, if there’s any mercy…?” I interrupted. “What happened…. What did you do to him?!”

Autumn rolled his eyes. “What do you think, girl? The cryo-stun grenade knocked you two out cold. You, I needed alive. Him, I most certainly did not. But, well, if it makes you feel any better, I _did_ show him the mercy of a quick death.” He patted a laser pistol on his hip as he sneered at me.

For a moment, all I could do was stare. My blood turned to ice in my extremities, leaving my center empty and hollow, my mind reeling. “You …killed him…?” I finally managed to whisper “You fucking killed him?!”

Autumn was, of course, completely nonplussed by my distress. “Of course I did. Abominations like that… _thing_ you call a ‘partner’ need to be eliminated. Now, if you don’t mind, we have more important things to talk about… the water purifier, for instance...”

Through the haze of my shock, I found myself thinking that the Colonel wasn’t much of a tactician. He _could_ have told me that Charon, or even my father, was alive and that I could see them again if I just gave him what I wanted; that they were being tortured as we speak and the only way to save them was to spit out the code. He might have gotten what he wanted that way. But when it came to my Father, Autumn clearly didn’t care or probably have a clue… and Charon… 

“Fuck you, you evil bastard,” I hissed. I would have spit at him too if he’d been a bit closer.

The Colonel just narrowed his eyes. “You do realize that you’re in a heap of trouble kid,” he growled. “You’re a traitor against the United States government…”

At this, I couldn’t suppress a choked chortle. “United States government?! What United States?! What government?!” My outburst, though, was cut short by searing hot pain that seemed to suddenly alight in every nerve, every fiber of my being. My scoffs morphed into a high pitched scream I barely recognized as my own. 

…It was over almost as quickly as it had begun, but left my entire body feeling worn and tender. An electrical shock, I realized belatedly, as my mind began to come back online. 

“Now look,” the drawling voice of Colonel Autumn cut through the blur in my head, which was pounding even worse than before. “You give me that code, and maybe we can make a deal. Let you out of this alive.”

“The hell you want the code for so badly” I coughed back. 

“You know why!” He sounded exasperated. We can’t start the purifier without it. The longer the purifier isn’t running, the more people suffer.”

I snorted at his sanctimonious bullshit. “And what’s their suffering to you? You’ve all been off hiding in a cushy bunker for the past 200 years! What the hell prompted you to suddenly take such an interest in the Wastes and its people?” 

Autumn just scowled in response. “I’ve had enough of your insolence, girl. Give me the code or else…”

For a moment, I debated letting loose with another round of expletives and curses, of telling him exactly what I thought of him and his Enclave. But… the truth of my situation was catching up hard. Charon was dead, and the Enclave would soon kill me too, regardless of Autumn’s obviously false promises of potential mercy. Better to get it over with now. Besides, the truth would hurt the Colonel far more than any string of curses that my Vault-grown vocabulary could stitch together…

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know the code,” I said honestly. Dad and I… we hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms. I had been so angry, so upset at what felt like his betrayal and abandonment that even if he had told me the code, I would not have listened, wanting nothing to do with him or his little pet project. ….Of course, I wouldn’t have told that evil bastard in front of me even if I did actually have the information he demanded. Sure, I had no idea why the hell they wanted the purifier to start with, but I knew it couldn’t be for anything good. Dad had certainly thought this, preferring to take the saying “you can have it over my dead body” literally rather than work with them. And besides, even if their intentions were benevolent, I had seen what they did to “traitors” and ”genetic defects”… the barns and truck trailers full of slaughtered ghouls, eyes opened and pleading, plasma burns on their ruined clothes. The discoveries had haunted my nightmares for weeks!

I imagined Charon among them, broken and lifeless, grey-blue eyes glazed but still glaring back at me with anger and pain….

“Bull shit,” the Colonel spat, interrupting my grotesque thoughts. “I’m running out of patience, girl. I want that code and I want it now!” He stepped closer, near enough that I could smell the stench of coffee and cigarettes on his breath and the pungent odor of rancid old world hair pomade and stale aftershave. “You know what happens to traitors, don’t you?” he hissed, grabbing my head and forcing me to make eye contact. 

“You kill them,” I replied simply. 

“Damn straight. And unless you start talking, that’s what’s gonna happen to you too!” He shoved my head back roughly, bashing it against the metal restraints of my cage.

Despite the pain, I had to fight back a smile, instead letting my head fall to my chest. Death would not be pleasant, I mused, but I didn’t fear it now. Despite Autumn being here and seemingly none the worse for wear, Dad was almost certainly dead. The Colonel, I suspected, was full of more circuit boards and cybernetic implants than I was (and I had taken on quite a few since meeting Pinkerton…), which was probably the reason he was standing here now. That and the Enclave would have happily expended their resources to save _him_. My father, on the other hand… it sounded like they had simply categorized him as “a traitor”, and thus unworthy of such effort. Most likely, his body had been burned to ash, if they hadn’t simply thrown it into the bay or out into the Wastes to be torn apart by scavengers…

And Charon, the man who had served as my protector and guide for months now; the man who had truly taught me to fight and to survive in the Wastes; who had stood with me even as my own Father criticized and tore me down for ‘leaving’ the vault; the man who had become like a second father to me…well, at least a particularly cantankerous uncle… he was gone too, and the fault was all mine. 

So what the hell did I care if I died? It would serve me right for letting them both down! …for the last words I spoke to my father being full of hatred and venom. ….for leading my partner into a deathtrap on a quixotic quest for some idiotic pipe dream even I didn’t believe in… 

My reverie was shattered by another jolt of pure pain igniting my nerves. I think it was a longer and more powerful blast than before, though when all you know is pain, time ceases to run at the same speed we are normally accustomed to. When I came to again, weak and panting, Autumn was still up in my face, his expression one of pure hatred and wickedness. “I can do this all day, girl,” he hissed. “Pump you full of just enough juice to make you _wish_ you were dead, but not enough to finish you off. Or maybe…maybe I start removing pieces, bit by bit, with a laser pistol so you don’t just go bleeding to death on me…. A toe here, a knee there, til you’re nothing but a torso and a head, begging for the sweet embrace of death...” 

I just looked at him. I’d be dead of shock before I lost too many limbs, I mused, but it was still going to be a hellishly slow and painful way to go. I supposed, though, that it served me right. It wasn’t just my Father and Charon I’d hurt, after all: for all the blood on my hands, slow and painful death by torture and dismemberment was probably deserved. …even if the blood _was_ mostly of truly horrible and evil people……who _were_ usually trying to kill me in the first place….

Autumn had stepped back – at least it was one small mercy not to have his stench up in my nostrils any more – and had pulled out a laser pistol. He aimed it low, at my legs. “I am not gonna play games with you, Connelly,” he snapped. His finger twitched on the trigger as he glared at me expectantly. But I had no information to give him, nor any desire to share it if I did. Instead, I closed my eyes, fighting down the panic that anticipation of pain always brings. Nothing mattered, I reminded myself. Everyone I love is dead, so nothing really matters….

“Colonel… I have need of you.” The voice belaying my expected torment was familiar, though in my current mental haze, I couldn’t quite place it.

“Mr. President, I have no time for other matters. I will be with you shortly,” Autumn replied, the irritation at the interruption obvious in his tone. 

I hesitantly opened my eyes. Autumn was still there, his pistol pointed at me, but he had half turned to glare at what I assumed was a camera/intercom on the wall. “Now, Colonel…” The President’s tone was jovial, but with an undercurrent of annoyance that had an immediate effect on my tormentor. 

Autumn grit his teeth and scowled, eyeing me with absolute hatred. Time seemed to stand still for a moment, his finger twitching on the trigger, the camera flickering behind him in anticipation. “…Yes, sir…” he finally grumbled, reholstering his gun Then, without another word, he turned and left my cell. 

I blinked at his receding back, feeling almost… let down? Disappointed? Not that I wanted to suffer as he had described, of course, but… physical pain that could block out the emotional anguish within, perhaps death itself… it had been so close…

The heavy, metal doors slammed shut behind Autumn, prompting the man behind the intercom to speak up again. “Ah, alone it last,” it said blandly. As it spoke, though, I felt the tight metal bonds wrapped around my body suddenly release. I lurched forward, barely staying on my feet and feeling far dizzier than I would have liked. Finding a semblance of balance, I raised my eyes back to the blue flickering light of the intercom. “I do apologize for Colonel Autumn’s attitude. He has been under a great deal of stress lately,” the voice said. “I’ve no doubt that you know who I am. I’m sure you’ve heard my radio broadcasts…”

I nodded warily at the camera. I had indeed, though until recently I had not given them much thought. More relics of the Old World, or at least the world immediately after the bombs fell…

“I’d like to have a word with you, face-to-face. I think there are a few things you and I should discuss.” The light flickered, then the voice continued, “You’ll find your possessions in the locker near the door. I’ll unlock the way for you.”

….alright. This was…weird. That Eden would play ‘good cop’ to Autumn’s ‘bad cop’ – that would have made sense. But to let me have my gear back? I soon saw that President Eden wasn’t kidding or giving me half truths either. It was all there – my armor, my weapons, my ammo, my med kits… even the bag of scrap I had been gathering for Winthrop. It was all there! …Needed some repairs from the fights in the hellhole of Vault 87 and being knocked out by the electro-cryo-grenade-whatever, but it was there. 

I dressed quickly, feeling much more whole and optimistic upon donning my usual reinforced black leather garb and dirt brown duster; feeling much more eager to stay alive with my customized sniper and plasma rifles on my back, silenced 10mm and General Jingwei’s blade on my hips. I was alone, truly the Lone Wanderer once again, but… I bit back a sob and took a deep breath. Dying wouldn’t bring them back. Nothing I could do would bring them back. However, I could avenge their deaths far easier alive than dead myself. 

_You’re well named,_ Charon had told me once. _Eryn, like Erinyes… the Furies. The Kindly ones. They who bring the justice of the Gods to the wicked, and the balm of revenge to the victimized…_ …so it would be. I wasn’t sure how, just yet, but I would find a to bring the wrath of God to these evil bastards for all they had done to my family, to my friends, to me…. 

But first…first I needed to figure out just what the hell kind of game President Eden was playing. 

***

“Hold it right there!” A raspy male voice had me immediately reaching for my sword as I stepped into the hall. I turned to see a very average looking man dressed in an officer’s uniform glaring back at me, laser pistol in hand but pointed at the ceiling for the time being. “You’re supposed to be in that holding cell!” he exclaimed, looking rather confused. 

“Ah, President Eden is expecting me…” I replied with all the confidence I could manage.

“Nobody sees the president except Colonel Autumn…” he replied, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

I smiled in what I hoped was a winning a manner. “I understand, sir, but the President was adamant that he speak to me face to face as soon as possible. Of course… that means I will also have a chance to put in a good word for you when I see him…”

The officer remained suspicious, but I had read him right. Typical soldier stuck on guard duty and eager to climb the ranks so he could stick other people on guard duty. “You are…? I mean you would…?” I nodded at him and winked. “Well…alright. Just make sure he knows I was real strict with you, okay? …And that I didn’t have my uniform on backwards this time.” 

I managed to keep my poker face at this last bit, smiling warmly instead of guffawing as I wanted to. “No worries, Officer…?”

“Oh, Williams!” he volunteered eagerly. “Lieutenant Jerry Williams, Delta Division.”

“Lieutenant Williams. Got it. I’ll make sure he knows!”

I continued past the poor idiot who was now giddy with excitement, only to see two more soldiers in heavy Tesla armor strutting towards me. I kept my hand on my sword, not wanting to start a fight if I didn’t have to, though given that they were already reaching for their plasma rifles, I wasn’t sure I was going to have a choice. Suddenly, the familiar voice of President Eden rang through the complex. “Attention all Raven Rock Personnel. This is your President speaking. I’ve invited our guest from Vault 101 to my office. Please do not impede her progress. Thank you for your cooperation.”

I looked up at the two soldiers, who looked at each other, then back at me. I couldn’t see their expressions through those demon-like helmets, but I imagined it was one of confusion. However, they didn’t seem ready to take action against direct orders, and so simply stepped aside and let me pass. …Unfortunately, I had only taken a few steps down the hall when another familiar voice cut over the intercom.

“Attention! This is Colonel Autumn! You are hereby ordered to ignore the President’s previous directive. The prisoner from Vault 101 is to be shot on sight. I repeat, shot on sight. This is an order!”

Well, shit.

I didn’t even bother to look behind me, opting instead to pound on the panel to the nearest holding cell and swing inside. I managed to gain cover just as the soldiers I had recently passed began shooting. Cursing under my breath, I pulled the plasma rifle off my back and switched off the safety. I crouched down in the shadows next to the door and was preparing to ambush my attackers when a wavering moan behind me grabbed my attention. To my horror, the familiar face of Nathan from Megaton stared back at me. He was, as I had recently been, bound to the wall by a metal contraption that reminded me of the ribcage of some awful beast, his wrinkled face tear stained. Judging by the smell in the tiny cell and the state of his dishevelment, I suspected he had been here for a while. 

“Eryn?” he gasped in recognition. But then his expression grew panicked. “They’re not who they say they are! Get out while you can, before they get you too!”

Honestly, I was rather touched by his words, thinking of me despite his own predicament. “Don’t worry, Mr. Vargas. I’ll get you outta here…” I started, but was interrupted by the door opening. The two soldiers in Tesla armor stood in the opening, though their eyes fell first to Nathan as he was a more obvious focal point. I took advantage of their momentary confusion and fired off my rifle twice. The superheated energy blazing from my modified weapon burned right through their armor, igniting the very bodies of the soldiers in a bout of instantaneous combustion that reduced them to a pungent pile of glowing green goo in an instant. Behind me, Nathan let out a horrified wail at the sight.

Moments later, Lieutenant Williams burst in, slipping in the remnants of his former comrades. He shrieked as he skidded into the room, completely off balance, completely at my mercy. I admit I felt a bit bad for the poor fool as I drew my 10mm and put a bullet between his eyes, but I knew he wouldn’t give me any quarter now, no matter what I promised him. 

Letting out a shaky breath, I reholstered the 10mm, then studied the controls on the wall panel. There was an encryption on the locking mechanism for Nathan’s cage, but a bit of hotwiring worked wonders and the old man was soon free, albeit clearly traumatized. I wasn’t sure what he had already gone through and didn’t have the time then to find out, but I figured that learning his idols were monsters was reason enough to give him nightmares for years. 

I approached him slowly, making my voice as calm but also as assertive as possible. “Nathan, I need you to listen to me,” I said quietly. “I want to get you out of here, but with them hunting me, I don’t know that I can keep you safe if you come with me. So, here’s what we’re going to do.” I went over to the body of Lieutenant Williams. “I suggest you put on this guy’s gear here so you don’t stand out, then make your way toward the exit. In the meantime, I will try to keep their attention on me so they ignore you.”

He just shook his head, panic clearly rising in his eyes. “They don’t have any old soldiers. It won’t help. I’m just going to run for it. I can’t stay here! They’re not who they say they are!” I began trying to calm him, but just then the doors clanged open and more soldiers barged into the tiny room. I managed to put them down without much trouble, but Nathan fled during the fracas. Well, I can’t say I blamed him; I could only hope the poor old fool would make it home safely. 

I crept out of the cell, hearing the thud of footsteps in the distance. Having no idea where I was or how the place was laid out, I wasn’t sure which was the better way to go. So, rather than wander into a trap, I decided to finish checking out the immediate area and make sure the Enclave wasn’t keeping anyone else prisoner. Presumably, the enemy would come to me in the meanwhile. I misjudged their eagerness to re-detain me, though. While glad to find that there were no other prisoners, I was a bit concerned that no one had come for me yet. The enemy was either trying to pull the same ambush gambit…or just wasn’t looking very hard. Well whatever, I figured. I would just have to take the fight to them.

Slipping past the last of the holding cells and around a corner, I found myself in what appeared to be a laboratory. My heart skipped a beat as I saw a huge vat full of some fluid – formaldehyde? – holding the body of what I hoped had been a _feral_ ghoul. Autumn could have been lying to me, I mused, staring into the lifeless, deformed face. They might have taken Charon after all…might have taken Dad, even, and turned them over to their so-called scientists. Eager as I was to escape, I couldn’t bear the idea of leaving them or their bodies in this awful place to be poked at, prodded, and used to test out more nefarious contraptions and theories spawned by this dreadful organization. Just my luck, though, the lab was _not_ great place for a fight. Horrible sightlines and a lot of blind corners, with multiple levels from which an enemy could attack. They had not yet noticed me, though, something that I could use to my advantage.

I crept into a small room on the lower level and pulled out my silenced sniper. The 10mm was good for an instant kill when my opponent wasn’t wearing power armor, but wouldn’t be so efficient with these guys in their black demon suits. The sniper, however….

The first one dropped without a sound except the crash of his body hitting the ground. That alone (and the muffled yet still definitely audible bang from the rifle) did alert his friends, but that worked for me as it also drew them into my line of fire. Two more shots, two more dead assholes. However, a shrill shriek from above alerted me to another presence. Creeping around the side of the room, I saw a woman in a white hazmat suit gawking at the corpses. A researcher, I figured. My first thought was to shoot her dead on site, but a part of me – the optimistic, vault dwelling Daddy’s girl I had once been – staid my hand. I couldn’t shoot an unarmed civilian without a truly good reason...

The moment I stepped out of the shadows to try and speak to her, the scientist drew a laser pistol and began firing wildly. I ducked back into the room with a sigh. Well, self defense was definitely a truly good reason, I reckoned. A pause as she reloaded gave me all the time I needed to jump out and drop her with my plasma rifle. I then made a quick search of the lab, growing more confident in my spillage of blood as I beheld the stained furniture, the dissected bits of brahmin and mutant floating in preservatives, and an operating table with restraints that I could only presume had been used in horrific “experiments” I did not want to ponder. Mercifully, I didn’t recognize any of the bodies floating in their tubes, nor did I find any evidence of anyone I knew having been there recently. 

More footsteps in the distance. I crouched into the shadows again and began moving forward. Despite Autumn’s orders, most of the soldiers I came across seemed unhurried and not at all alert as I would have thought they’d be, knowing that I was out and with a bounty on my head. No doubt the soldier who brought me down would earn great recognition, maybe a promotion, so you’d have thought they’d been shooting _each other_ for the chance! Of course, maybe they simply figured that a vault kid wasn’t a real threat to them, that the tales of the Lone Wanderer or whatever stupid name Three Dog had come up with were indeed mere stories, or that the true danger when tangling with me was my now deceased partner…. 

That might have been true once, of course, but life in the wastes and Charon himself had taught me well. Aside from a few singed hairs from a laser pistol when I took on a cafeteria full of surprised soldiers, I managed to make my way through the prison/biolab complex without much hassle, sneaking under the floors unnoticed and disabling their security systems as I went; sniping down those who would hinder my progress from the shadows; hotwiring the panels for locked doors and seeking the darkest corners of the building to get the drop on my opponents. 

Eventually, I found my way into another lab, this one full of robots which normally I would have found fascinating; I didn’t have the time at the moment, though, and so quickly continued into the Cryo Labs, or so the signs proclaimed. Here, I again felt my stomach fill with ants as I beheld more giant tubes of specimens, but these frozen rather than pickled. Who or what might I find here, I worried as I downed another guard as he rounded the corner. I heard running over head as one of the scientists fled, but he didn’t get far. With the only other non-frozen occupants of the lab down, I quickly went through the entire area, staring into the faces of the ghouls to see if I recognized them. But once again, I thankfully did not. 

I followed the path above into what signs indicated to be living quarter and, I hoped, the right direction. …though honestly, at this point, I was more than a bit lost in these twisting, seemingly identical corridors. There were maps on the walls and lots of signs and labels, but somehow their design made the layout even more confusing. It didn’t help that most of the rooms were practically indistinguishable from one another - empty and uninteresting save perhaps a few footlockers and caches of ammo that I “borrowed” for my own use. And then…. Then I stumbled into _her_ room.

“Anna…Anna Holt?!” I gasped lowering my rifle. She turned from the table she had been standing over, a look of surprise on her heart-shaped face. 

“You…” she breathed, simply.

There was no on else there, thank goodness, so I gestured for her to run. “Go on, get out of here! They’re after me so maybe I can draw their attention…” I stopped when I saw her expression.

“Get out? Why on earth would I want to do that?” she said dryly. I fell silent, staring at her in disbelief as she continued. “I’ve worked hard to fit in here. I’ve done everything they’ve asked of me. I’m not about to leave now, when I finally have access to their labs!” She paused, reading my face and began wringing her hands nervously. “Look, Eryn, I didn’t want to help them, not at first…but the technology they have here….”

“You…You’re helping them?”

“Well, of course! You’ve seen the kind of technology these people have…and they want to _help_ people, they want to _change_ the Wasteland!” 

_But not necessarily for the_ better, I thought as I ran my hand through my braids. “Well…so what are they asking you to do?”

“So far they mostly just want information… about Dr. Li and Project Purity. They want to know how to start it up and why it won’t work.”

“And what did you tell them?”

“Well, everything I could, of course. About the GECK, about the damage caused by the explosions… all of it! I mean…what was I supposed to do?!” Her tone was angry now as she shifted uncomfortably, her arms crossed defensively across her chest. “Look, it’s not personal. Really, it’s not. But Dr. Li…She’s just scraping by, scavenging for parts in the Wastes. And the Enclave… well, they have everything they needs. They’re _light_ years ahead of anything Dr. Li could accomplish. Working here is my best chance to help make the world a better place.”

I just sighed. “Are you so sure of that? Great technology doesn’t mean they have great intentions, you know…and from what I’ve seen of their ‘work’ in the wild, well…” I looked back up at her, hoping my eyes conveyed my meaning more clearly than my words could. 

She did seem to be affected, but she wasn’t about to be swayed. She believed what she was saying and was not willing to question it… not yet anyway. “Look, you should go. It sounds like you’re in enough trouble as it is, and honestly… I don’t want anyone to see me talking to you,” she stated assertively, dropping her hands to her sides, curled into fists. 

Part of me wanted to end her, to view her work with the Enclave as a betrayal to my father, to Dr. Li, to everything they had worked for. ….But… I understood. Honestly, I did. The tech here _was_ amazing, and the Enclave could definitely talk up a pretty (if extremely vague) picture of their intentions. It seemed clear to _me_ that it was all a pack of lies told by men with cruel hearts and evil plans, but… it’s easy to let yourself be swayed by false promises and brainwashed by bullshit when those words paint such lovely images….and, of course, threats of bodily harm don’t hurt either…

I nodded ruefully. “Take care, then. May you find what you seek.” _And may you get all that you deserve_ , I added mentally. 

Her voice was a bit choked as she echoed, “You too,” and I sensed that she wanted to say more, but… I had to get moving. I was still surprised there was not a full-on search for me just yet, or at least none that was evident. However, that could change at any second. Even though it hurt to see her here and working with the enemy, I didn’t want to endanger Holt were they to find me with her……or perhaps I just didn’t want to see her betray me in real time if they tried to bring me in and she ran to help them.

I turned into a hall I had not previously explored and continued my journey. Signs indicated I was headed in the right direction, though again, it all mushed together in one dark and ugly blur of chrome, steel, and eye-seeringly bright blue lights. The hall ended with door on either side, one unmarked, and one leading the way I needed to go. Just as I was about to trigger the panel to open the latter, though, I heard a noise from the other side. I quickly dashed to the door across the hall, and was relieved to find it opened onto a large but empty room that I swung into just two power-armored soldiers stomped into the hall and spotted me. The ensuing fight was brutal but quick, with my use of VATS and cybernetics winning the day. I was not uninjured, though, as one of the soldiers had managed to laser a small but painful hole in my upper arm. The burn stung and made my entire shoulder ache, but I definitely made out better than they, reduced to goo and gristle as they were. 

The immediate threat neutralized, I decided to take a moment to let a stimpack do its work while I did a quick search of the multiple supply and ammo chests….aaand maybe grabbed that limited edition bobblehead for my own informal collection… Annnnd maybe dig around a bit more thoroughly than I usually would since this must be the room of someone pretty important to have so much storge space yet only one bed…

The extra effort soon paid off: rifling through an easily lockpicked footlocker, I found a Holotape that began spewing out Autumn’s drawl the moment I popped it into my pipboy. “I’m not entirely sure Eden can be trusted,” he began, “And I think he knows I don’t trust him. But I don’t think he knows I have the emergency destruct sequence for his console….” He then proceeded to rattle of a sequence of numbers, noting it should only be used as a last resort, of course. I just smiled to myself as I put the tape in a well protected and secured pocket of my chest plate. Whether I used it as blackmail and revenge against Autumn, or a means to threaten Eden, here was a pressure point I could definitely exploit! ….though, what exactly the smug bastard meant by Eden’s “console” had me a bit confused. Perhaps he had a desk like an Overseer with all sorts of electronic security measures that this code could overcome?

Eh, well, only one way to find out. 

Stepping over the puddles of goo that had been soldiers, I snuck quietly down the halls and around the edges of a large but empty room with what I assumed was a map in the center. I was still musing on my relatively good luck when it came to opposition in this place, when I opened the door and came face to face with a room full of Powersuited soldier and, even worse, sentry bots. Well, that’s what I get for feeling hopeful, I mused. Letting out a hissed curse, I ducked back behind the door jam and was reaching for a grenade when I heard the sound of combat. Confused, I risked a peek and saw that the bots had apparently turned on the humans, and were ripping them to shreds with their high-powered 5mm mini-guns. Sentry bots are no joke, especially when attacking you unexpectedly from behind! Thus, the “battle” was over in a matter of minutes, power armor be damned. When the last soldier had fallen, the bot turned towards me. I was mentally prepping for a helluva fight, when a robotic voice echoed through the blood stained hall, “The President will see you now. Please proceed.” I hesitated a moment as the red “eyes” of the bots stared at me expectantly, but finally stepped into the hall and towards them - weapon drawn, but wary. They just stared at me, motors and servos whirring slightly but otherwise silent. Thus unimpeded, I stepped over the corpses and through the door at the end of the hall, finding myself in a chamber that was small in width but stretched so high above that it hurt my neck trying to see the ceiling. Most of what I could see were consoles and server cabinets, but there was also a sturdy metal staircase that coiled around a central pillar of consoles and cables. Seeing no other egress, I started up this stairway cautiously. 

By the time I reached the top, my legs were shaking with exertion…and maybe a bit of nerves… but there was nothing there except another door and a computer monitor. There _was_ a vase of yellow flowers on top of it, incongruously natural against the cold steel and harsh blue or fluorescent lights all around. Intrigued, I stepped towards them, only to realize on closer inspection that they were just plastic, as artificial and man made as everything else. What a shame! I sighed and began to turn for the door, when Eden’s voice rang out behind me: “Ah, face to face at last. It’s high time we met.”

I turned around, seeing no one, and turned again, before my eyes settled again on the monitor. There was now a green line on it that jittered slightly, then began to move in replication of the sound waves emitted by the voice of Eden as he continued. “I am quite pleased you were able to make it. The trip was…not what I had intended, but…It certainly serves as an adequate test of your abilities.”

I stared at the monitor a moment, thinking back to Autumn’s holotape. Eden’s console… Eden’s…..console…. “You….you’re a computer,” I realized. It made sense and yet..honestly, it still seemed completely unbelievable. 

Eden seemed pleased by my revelation, however. “How very open-minded of you. Kudos for embracing the reality of the situation, rather than railing against it,” he quipped jovially. Then, in a more serious tone, he continued, “Colonel Autumn is the only human permitted in this room, besides yourself, of course. Thus, you are now privy to one of the few secrets our government still harbors, so please do keep it to yourself.” The cameras watching me appeared to pick up my silent nod. “Good. Now, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? 

I stared at the console, considering my response. On one hand, this…computer… was the leader of the Enclave, and the source of all my and much of the Wasteland’s misery. I could use that destruction sequence right now and end the whole thing, taking my vengeance in one simple phrase.

….On the other….

This computer was the leader of the Enclave, and apparently had some interest in me for which it was willing to kill its own pawns. As much as I wanted to see the place burn, perhaps there was a greater advantage to be had by learning more about this “president” and his plans. ….they did have pretty amazing technology, after all… 

“…Alright…I’m listening…”

The console display jittered energetically. “Our nation’s Capital is at a crossroads,” Eden exclaimed. “The path that you and I choose here today will affect us all. We have a chance to make our country a better place… for all of us. I’d like _you_ to make sure that chance isn’t wasted.” Typical platitudes and BS, I mused, but nodded respectfully and gestured for the computer to continue. “As you can surely conjecture, my abilities to influence the world are…limited…at this time. You, however, may come and go as you please.”

“I can imagine that such a …sedentary existence can be quite frustrating,” I replied cautiously, “but what, exactly, is it you want me to do?

The computer seemed to mull this over. “Perhaps it is best if I explain why things need to change, and why I’d like you to act on my behalf.” And finally, _finally_ , I learned the reason for the Enclave’s sudden interest in the Wastes. ….and it was even more fucked up and disturbed than I had imagined.

“The mutations outside these walls must be cleansed before we can prosper,” Eden began. “By making a few small modifications to the purifier your father worked on, mutations can be eradicated with little effort. Anything mutated that comes into contact with that water will be eliminated, removed from the gene pool. The men and women of the world will no longer share it with the horrors and monstrosities that have become so commonplace.” A drawer popped out from under the monitor, a clear plastic tube held within. “There is a vial in front of you, filled with a modified FEV virus. It needs to be inserted into the control console for the purifier. Once that is done and the activation code is entered, the purifier will be activated and the process will be automated. …It isn’t too much to ask of you, is it?’

My reply was immediate and explosive. “It most certainly is,” I hissed. “There is no way in Hades or Hel that I’m doing such a horrific and poorly conceived thing! Seriously, have you truly thought this through?!” I pulled a hand through my braids in frustration. “Ok, ok sure. You might wipe out some of the hostile mutants and feral ghouls, though I don’t think you’ll get very many of them since One, they don’t drink much once the mutation is complete and Two, there aren’t _that_ many living right up on the Potomac. They definitely aren’t gonna come _seeking_ your poisoned death water, and it isn’t gonna start magically flowing up stream or into the caves and tunnels where they actually live, so how the hell do you expect it to affect them?! What, you gonna arm your soldiers with squirt guns?!” 

I paused to grab a breath, my body shaking with rage. The computer didn’t immediately respond, and I still had plenty to rant about, and so I continued angrily. “But more than the incompetence of your plan… you _do_ realize that most everyone who lives in the Wastes has some form of mutation already, right?! It’s not just my friends in Underworld you’re going to wipe out ….or…. oh dear God, is that your goal?! To wipe out everyone in D.C.?!!” The realization made my stomach churn. “It is, isn’t it. Cleanse the earth and bring in your own ‘stock’… but for fucks sake, your _own_ men will probably suffer and die due to their own genomic-level mutations! If they don’t have them now, they will soon now that they’re all out murdering folks in the wastes! Hell, good ol’ Colonel Autumn isn’t likely to be ‘pure of blood’ after that dose of radiation he _somehow_ survived!” I snarled. “Unless your goal is to wipe out the entire human race…….” ….it probably was his goal, wasn’t it.

As I pondered this horrific conclusion, the computer emitted a sound like a sigh. “I understand that you may have become sympathetic to certain individuals in your travels. Individuals that this will eliminate. But please, recognize that the fate of our entire country rests on this plan. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “The greater good… that same greater good for which the goddamn nukes were originally built? The FEV virus was originally engineered? Fuck your ‘greater good’!”

“I find that unfortunate, and most disappointing,” the computer replied disdainfully. Had it a body, I’m sure he would have been glaring at me over tented fingers.

“Good,” I grumbled. For a moment, we regarded each other angrily, and I considered the disk in my chest pocket. But…there was one more thing I _had_ to know. “Just… why me? Why not get one of your lackeys to help? Colonel Autumn maybe?” Not that I wanted him to do so, of course, but there had to be more to this insane request, a reason he would want me to do this specifically. …right?

“Ahhhh, yes. Colonel Autumn. My trusted subordinate…” The sarcasm in the voice was palpable. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that Colonel Autumn and I do not see eye-to-eye these days…figuratively speaking, of course. He feels my methods for handling the Wasteland are too…extreme.” 

“Huh,” was all I could say in reply. I still wanted to kill the bastard for forcing my dad into a situation where he felt death was the only viable option; for killing Charon; for the innocents he and his men had massacred; for his torture of Nathan and of myself; and also just because I had come to abhor his smug, too-smooth face. ….but well, everyone has their saving grace, I guess. Even that bastard, Autumn.

“He has allowed his humanity to cloud his objectivity,” the computer continued. “And now that he is publicly countermanding my orders, I can no longer rely on him. And so, I turn to you. I hope that _you_ are able to see the larger picture, to understand what’s at stake.” 

I considered the situation for a moment, hand still on my chest plate. Knowing that I could end this here and now was comforting. But…it struck me: computers don’t just make these decisions on their own. …..Right? “Before… Before I do anything, tell me: who programmed you? And….well, how did you come to be president?”

“I am flattered by your interest in me,” the computer replied, the tone jovial again. “You see, my terminal was installed to oversee the basic functions of this facility, and to act as a relay between similar installations around the country. Data was acquired, analyzed, and stored, and in the decades following the war, as the remnants of the government retreated to the West Coast, awareness slowly grew within me. I became hungry for knowledge and understanding, and pored over data on great leaders from the past. Thus, my personality became an amalgam of many of America’s greatest presidents, from Washington to Richardson…. and so I became what you see before you now.” If he’d had a body, I’m sure Eden would have bowed.

I pondered his words a moment, then shook my head. “Well, then, what I see a machine that is operating outside of its programming, an aberration of code that has declared itself to be president despite having no right to govern and having never been elected.”

Eden scoffed at this. “Do you think the United States is really in any shape to be holding public elections? I think not. But once we have re-established ourselves and brought civilization to the lands around us….then, we can return to the Old World policies. And as for my being an, ‘aberration of code’ as you so…delicately put it, well, the process was certainly unintended, but shouldn’t we all be thankful that I’m here now?”

“Why should we be?!” I snarled back, that last snarky comment stoking my rage back to a fever pitch. “You’re making life and death decisions that will affect the entire Wasteland, with no representation from the people who live there, without ever bothering to get to know them. Clearly, you don’t care about the people of the United States, outside of your own little group of presumably inbred ‘purebloods’, anyways!” I stepped forward, fists clenched but managing to control my voice to dull roar despite wanting to scream. “So just who the hell gave you the right to call yourself ‘president’? And who gave you the notion that you have any idea what’s best for this ‘country’?”

“No one needed to give me anything,” Eden replied in a sneering tone. “After all, unlike humans, I am infallible.”

“Oh? And just how did you come to _that_ conclusion?!”

“Because I’ve been programmed to be infallible, of course!” The tone was still as haughty and self-righteous as ever but…did I detect a hint of hesitance?

“Programmed by humans, who were _obviously_ fallible given that your entire argument is one of circular logic. You know you’re infallible because you know you’re infallible? I mean, really?”

Honestly…at this point, I wasn’t sure why I was arguing unless it was for the pure catharsis of giving the literal soulless machine a piece of my mind. I probably should’ve just whipped out my trump card and blow the place to kingdom come then and there. But as it turned out, my words alone had a much more… destructive effect than I’d have anticipated. A strange, deep voice began to emit from the monitor. “Processing… Processing…” I stepped back cautiously, wondering if the servers had been overloaded or damaged and were about to explode on their own! But then Eden’s voice returned. “Internal logic error detected….resetting primary memory circuits. Please stand by.” There was a slight pause, and then the President’s AI returned in full, though now the voice was showing obvious distress. “Perhaps…Perhaps there is a problem. I am… I am unsure …how to proceed.”

Was he asking for my input? My orders? Or was a computer having an honest to god moment of introspection and crisis? …well, stranger things had happened, as Harkness’ plasma gun on my back proved. Either way, maybe I could end this madness this with my words alone after all…

“You need to stop,” I stated firmly. “Put an end to this insane, genocidal plan of yours, once and for all.”

“Analyzing command…” Eden replied, and I held my breath, only to let it out in a gasp of surprise as the processor reached its conclusion: “New course of action dictated. Self-destruct sequence initialized. Civilian is advised to remove hazardous FEV material and exit at once.” 

I looked at the vial as alarms began to sound and lights flash around me. As much as I didn’t want to even look at the damn thing, let alone touch it, having it potentially aerosolized by an explosion wouldn’t be any better for my friends in the Wastes than putting it in their water. And so, I grabbed the vial of the evil substance and secured it next to Autumn’s holotape. That might still come in handy as blackmail if the opportunity arose, I mused as I glanced once more at the monitor, now silent and lifeless, then turned and ran out the door.

It was pure chaos around me. Eden’s automated defenses had turned on the human soldiers, allowing me to easily slip by and run for the exit. I kept my eyes open as I ran and was relieved to not see Nathan’s corpse along the way, though I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good sign. If he were hiding somewhere in this massive labrynth when the countdown ended… 

A gout of flame erupted from a room nearby before the doors slammed shut, nearly catching me in its corona. The sequence was already starting! I could only pray that Nathan and Holt (I supposed I should pray for her at least) had already or would soon heed the evacuation orders blaring through the speakers and make a run for it. Certainly everyone else was! Through window-like portals opening onto the hangar bay, I could see vertibids being launched up to the surface on elevators. There would definitely be more battles against these bastards in the coming days, I realized. Still, to lose their base and their leader in one big blast was going to be a hell of a blow! But right now, I had to focus on my own escape…

The rapport of bullets, explosions, screams, and angry commands was a cacophony of confusion that seemed to dull my senses as I ran. I focused on the path ahead of me as the base began to crumble and burn, ignoring the battles between man and machine all around me. I leapt over countless piles of twisted metal and charred bodies, narrowly dodged explosions and falling debris, and slalomed around jets of flames and showers of sparks spewing out of melting equipment. A couple of times, I felt a searing pain rip through my flesh as bullets and laser beams grazed me, but I didn’t dare stop, not until the final door swung open, not until I saw the grey light of dawn above me, bedecked with the dying glitter of the stars, not until…wait….was that….?

“My friend!” Fawkes called out as the last of the soldiers fearless enough to stand against him fell, a mere smoking ruin thanks to a vertibird-sized gatling laser the mutant had somehow obtained. Lowering the massive weapon, he hurriedly jogged over to me, his warped face appearing to twist into a grin which I quickly returned, though I also felt tears pricking in my eyes. I was beyond relieved to be out and alive, and to see at least one familiar face. But it also brought to mind all those faces I wouldn’t see again….

“I _knew_ you had survived,” Fawkes hollered as vertibirds whirred frantically overhead. “I had hoped to assist in your rescue to repay my debt to you, but…… well, I only wish I could have arrived sooner to aid your escape.”

I couldn’t find words right then, not without all of my emotions, all the pain bubbling to the surface, so I just patted his huge arm, and pointed south. “The place is gonna blow. We have to get out of here and quick.” 

“Indeed! Then lead on, my friend,” he nodded. 

We began to run, hoping to evade the blast, but it was already too late!

A rumble and then a series of explosions rocked the ground around us as the Raven Rock base went nuclear. Stone, metal, dirt and other debris flew into the air, jamming the rotors of some of the fleeing vertibirds that hurtled back to earth in flames. It was an airborne piece of one of these that smashed into my legs as I ran, sending me flying face first into the ground as the sky rained down sharp stones and heavy clods of dirt. They slammed into my body at full force, as if trying to kill me through a million small but painful impacts. I shrieked, and was trying to curl into a protective posture that would at least cushion my head against these sky-born ballistics, when suddenly… they stopped. Raising myself painfully onto my elbows, I realized that Fawkes was now crouched over me, protecting my relatively small body with his large frame. It seemed that his thick green skin was impervious to the stony fallout all around us as he didn’t so much as flinch at the rain of debris, even when a few rather large rocks slammed into his shoulder and back. 

“Are you alright?” he asked instead, obviously concerned more for me. I nodded and began to try to find my feet to run again, but it my mutant friend wasn’t having any of that. Before I could protest, he had picked me up and was running away from the explosion, cradling me in his arms like a small child. Stunned, I didn’t bother to protest, simply hanging on to the ruins of what had been his vault suit as we fled the scene. Another explosion roared out behind us, followed by an earsplitting crash as the base collapsed on itself, but Fawkes didn’t falter or stop for what felt like miles. Indeed, by the time he did, the smoking ruins and chaos was far behind us.

“I am sorry, my friend. I must pause for a moment,” Fawkes heaved, setting me carefully on the ground before collapsing into a cross-legged position nearby, breathing heavily. 

I smiled. “Please do,” I encouraged. “I need a bit of a breather and self-checkup anyway.” Taking the opportunity to examine my injuries, I found that I had been lucky when it came to my leg and other wounds. There were a plethora of nasty bruises forming, and I still had a pounding headache, but at least nothing appeared to be broken. Still… there was a long road and many more fights ahead, so I pulled out a stim and injected the whole thing directly into my bloodstream, grimacing at the sting of the huge needle and strange tingling it caused. I then turned to Fawkes. “You ok? Any injuries?”

He shook his head. “No, I am fine. But you are hurt?”

“Bit bruised, bit singed, very sore, and extremely pissed off, but… I’ll be alright. I’ve had worse, after all.” The mutant make a choked sound of surprise at this, but I just grinned. “Remind me to tell you about the time I went searching for a lost ‘little girl’ down in Point Lookout some time….”

A thought then struck me. “Hey, uh, speaking of lost kids, how exactly did you know where to find me?”

Fawkes seemed surprised by my question. “Why, I followed you here! After you left, I heard a terrible commotion and so I went to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I found you gone and your companion struggling to find his feet despite being half frozen and injured…”

“Wait, you mean…” I immediately scrabbled to my knees and grabbed his arm. “Charon..? He’s… where is he?! Is he…”

The mutant smiled and patted my hand gently. “Do not worry yourself, my friend. He will be alright. Indeed, he tried to come with me, but the effects of the weapon they had used to subdue you both, along with what appeared to be a fairly severe chest wound slowed him down too much to keep up. So instead, he told me to follow and to find you. And so I have!” 

“But where is he now?” I inquired, beyond relieved but still very concerned.

Fawkes pondered this. “He said that he would meet us in a location you had previously designated, but I am not sure what that location would be...”

“A location I previously… Oh, of course! Underworld! We had a plan that if we ever got separated, we would meet up again where I first met him – the 9th Circle in Underworld.”

“Under…world…?”

“Yeah. It’s a city run by and predominantly inhabited by ghouls. It’s quite a hike from here, though…down in the center of the D.C. ruins at the Museum of Natural History…”

“The Museum of Natural History!” Fawkes interrupted in excitement. “Yes, this is a place I want to see! I am sure I can learn a great deal about the world there.”

“Oh? Ah well…” I hesitated. “There isn’t a lot left of the museum except some semi-legible books in the archives dedicated to Lincoln but… there _are_ a lot of great people. Tulip for instance. You and her might get along. She loves to read. And Carol is a total sweetheart.. I’m sure they’ll be happy to let you hang out with them once they get to know you …. But, of course, first we have to get there…”

“Indeed. Well please, lead on my friend!”

***

It was a long walk, Raven Rock being about as far from D.C. as could be traveled in a day on foot, and the anxiety I felt concerning my former companion made it feel even longer. Luckily, there was little to stand in our way, and what dare try was easily dispatched or scared away by my new friend and his massive laser gun. Thus, the sun was only starting to set by the time we emerged from the subway tunnels in front of the Museum.

A shuffling click of heels sounded behind us, and I turned to see the familiar scowl of Willow. She was staring at Fawkes with narrowed eyes, her fingers twitching at the trigger of her assault rifle. But then, she noticed me, gave the mutant a double take, then relaxed her grip on the weapon, even giving us a short smile. “You certainly have some interestin’ friends there, tourist.” she quipped, before jerking her head towards the doors behind her. “And speakin’ of friends, you better head on in and say hi to Charon before he wears a hole in the floor with his pacing.” I could only nod at her as relief flooded my body, threatening to take my legs out from under me. Willow chuckled to herself. “Eh, you go on in, kid. I’ll see about getting’ your new friend here up to date on the lay and the law of the land.”

“Thanks, Willow,” I said, truly grateful. I flashed a reassuring smile at Fawkes, who returned the gesture. 

“Please, go on ahead, my friend. I very much would like to see and hear more about this Museum of Natural History, after all,” he encouraged. 

“Alright. Thanks again Fawkes…Willow.” 

“Yeah yeah, go on already!” the latter smirked, giving me a gentle shove. 

I didn’t hesitate any longer, all but running through the dilapidated halls of the former museum until I reached the double doors of the 9th Circle. Throwing them open, I found the place empty save for one tall figure who was indeed pacing a hole in the floor. At the creaking of the doors, he spun on his heel, flashing blue-steel eyes full of irritation and anger…at least until he realized who it was bothering him now. “Ryn?” he rasped, seeming to question his own sight. 

I wanted to play it cool, flash him a cocky grin and a wave before strolling over in a casual manner… but yeah. That didn’t last more than a few steps, at which point I all but ran to and grabbed him in a brief but fierce hug. “God, Che, they told me you were dead! That bastard Autumn, he told me he killed you! And then, even when Fawkes said you weren’t dead… God, I have been so worried!” I cried, feeling the tears I’d been holding back for hours finally rolling down my cheeks.

He stared at me for a moment, apparently unsure what to make of my emotional outburst. But then, his expression softened a bit and he breathed out what seemed to be a sigh of relief. “Likewise,” he growled warmly. But then, something in his “programming” appeared to click on. He straightened to attention as if in a military revue. “I apologize for my failure to protect you,” he stated. “I recognize that my inability to adequately perform my function put you in grave danger, and thus I submit myself to whatever punishment you should deem fit.”

I sighed sadly. It had been a while since whatever computer chips and cruel conditioning imbedded in his brain made themselves known, but that something so dramatic as all this would bring it out was no surprise. “Oh Che,” I murmured. “It was most certainly _not_ your fault. And you know damned well that even if it were, I wouldn’t freakin’ ‘punish’ you for it.”

At this, he relaxed a bit. “Yeah, I guess I do know that, kid,” he replied with a faint smile. “Still, I am sworn to protect you, and that I failed in that task…” He shook his head. “I saw them come in, bind you up and carry you away, but no matter how much I fought against it, I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t strike back! When the effect of the grenade finally began to wear off, I tried to come after and find you, but whatever the hell was in that thing still had me so shaky that I could barely stand!”

“Yeah….and to say nothing of a laser wound…”

The ghoul just scoffed at this. “Eh, I don’t think that moron could kill a bloatfly with that pea shooter of his. Did a bit of damage, sure, but I’d barely count it as a flesh wound…”

“Oh? Is that what Doc Barrows said too?”

“Well…” He hedged for a minute before smirking lightly. “He gave me some bull about how it coulda killed me if it had been an inch to the right but…” Charon shrugged. “Like I said. Flesh wound.”

I just laughed and gave him another hug, this time one armed. He tensed at the show of affection as he always did, but didn’t step back or shove me away. “Well, thank god that along with using the electronic equivalent of a BB gun, Good Ol’ Colonel Autumn also can’t hit the broadside of a barn.”

At this, he actually let out a short but genuine laugh. “Indeed… but now tell me, how exactly you managed to escape? Fawkes found you in time, I take it?”

“Well… yes, but…also no… Ah let’s sit down and I’ll tell you the whole sordid tale of how I managed to blow up the Enclave’s home base with nothing more than logic and a bit of luck…”

The ghoul stared at me incredulously before grabbing a seat from a table behind and gesturing for me to do the same. “Blew up the base? Heh, now this is a story I have _got_ to hear…”

“Oh indeed, but…maybe we should get the others in here too. Hate to tell the same story twice… and I gotta say, now that I’m no longer drowning in guilt and self loathing for getting you killed…I have quite an appetite it seems…”

He cocked his head to the side at my words, apparently confused, and seemed about to argue when something appeared to click in his head. His thin lips twisted into a sad sort of one-sided smile as he softly chided me, “Miss Eryn, you know that you really needn’t put yourself through such pain on my account…”

And I just shook my head with a smile. “And you know that I always will… because like it or not, I care about you!” He scoffed at this, almost missing when I added in a whisper, “after all, you’re the closest thing to family I have left.”

We stood there in silence a moment, me wondering if I had overstepped some boundary as he stared down with his usual inscrutable expression. At long last, though, he reached out a scarred and calloused hand, placing it gently on my shoulder. He held it there a moment, seeming to search for what to say. “I am glad that you are alright,” he finally stated, squeezing gently. By the look in his eyes, I could tell that he truly meant it, and that he could say such a thing despite our entire relationship being predicated by brainwashing and a contract; after he had been frozen, shot, and left to trek across the wastes alone; after hours in a limbo of not knowing if he was free or if he would soon be listening to my inane chatter or harebrained schemes again….. The tears that had momentarily dried up threatened to come back full force.

“Same, Che,” was the best I could manage as I placed my hand atop of his.

Luckily for him, I was prevented from giving him another hug as the doors burst open, allowing Carol and Winthrop to rush in, followed shortly by Nurse Graves and Greta. All of them expressed their joy at seeing me in one piece and began looking me over for injuries and asking questions. Carol, seeing I was alright, then turned to Fakwes who had ambled in as well, Willow close behind, and struck up a conversation that eventually led to the large mutant heading across the hall to her place, presumably for a heaping serving of her homemade molerat stew or mirelurk pie. We joined them not long after, and soon I found myself recounting the tale of my daring escape from Raven Rock to the entire town.

***

Hours later, I was curled up in “my” bed at Carol’s place, Charon seated nearby and keeping watch as usual. He seemed a bit more tense and alert than he had been in a while, probably still mentally punishing himself for “failing” to protect me. It honestly made my heart ache a bit…but…. well, thinking of hearts.

“So really, how’s the chest wound?” I asked, leaning back into the mostly flat pillow. 

“It is fine,” he replied simply.

“Mm. Barrows stitched you up?”

“Yes.” A moment of silence, then he turned his head towards me. “I should have mentioned earlier, but the photo…photo volt…. Eh, whatever you called it. That coating that you used on my armor? Definitely seemed to help with reflecting some of the energy beam. I jest at his choice of weapon, but that blast could have done decent damage if I wasn’t properly outfitted. As it is…well, like I said: it’s just a flesh wound.”

“Mm. Gotta be careful with those, though, ‘specially when you don’t have much flesh left to lose….” I grinned cheekily at his slightly raised brow. 

“Indeed…” He stared at me, deadpan as ever, but there was a glint of a smile in his eyes. He then nodded towards me. “You should try and sleep. You must be quite tired after all of today’s events.”

I chuckled and leaned back, “I am…. Still a bit keyed up, though….” I closed my eyes and tried to relax, finally giving up with a sigh. “It’s not over, of course. Some of them escaped in their vertibirds… and they do still have the G.E.C.K….”

“Mn. I suppose that means we shall have to pay a visit to your friends at the Brotherhood again…” His tone was even, but he didn’t bother masking the disdain.

“Yeah, unfortunately. …Sorry in advance.”

He shrugged. “Let’s just hope that they are up to the task at hand. Your ‘discussion’ with Eden today has dealt the Enclave a severe blow, but I fear it would be foolish to view them as no longer being a threat.”

“Agreed,” I sighed. “Their escape vertibirds went flying off _somewhere_. I’d bet a decent stack of caps they have some other bolt hole here in the Wastes they’ve run off to in order to lick their wounds.”

“Mm,” Charon agreed. “Well, no matter. We will find them.”

“We, huh?” I smiled. “You’re really still willing to put up with me after all the nonsense I keep putting you through? You sure you don’t want to go work for someone with slightly less of a death wish?”

The ghoul just snorted in reply. “What, and go back to standing in a corner watching a bunch of morons wasting their caps on overpriced booze and adulterated chems?” 

“Beats getting frozen, shot and left for dead by a bunch of fascist weirdos calling themselves the U.S. government?”

Though my tone was light and teasing, I meant what I said and I’m sure that Charon knew it. I’d often offered to free him from his contract as best I could, which basically would mean letting him go and work for whoever he chose since he was adamant I couldn’t just burn the damn thing. But as usual (and always to my relief), he showed no interest in that offer. 

Instead, he rose and came to stand next to me, staring down with a serious expression. “Miss Eryn, I have no intention of leaving your service unless it were truly your command,” he stated, matter of fact. “Yes, your path is often dangerous, but that just makes it so my presence has greater purpose. More importantly, though, you follow a path that… “ he paused to consider his words. “that I can follow with pride. This alone is worth a few injuries.”

I sniffed back tears at his words. “Thanks, Che. It… it really means a lot to me,” I said in a tight-voiced whisper. 

The ghoul nodded sincerely, before lightly shoving me down onto the bed and pulling up the blankets to my chin. “Get some rest now, kid. We got many miles yet to travel.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love stories where Charon is a pre-war ex-soldier etc., but have my own complicated head canon involving crazy scientists obsessed with Greek myths, genetic engineering, and cybernetic implants that made him into a sort of post-apocalyptic housecarl (sworn to carry your burdens! *grumble grumble*).  
> His speech in game seems to vacillate from Atlantic City to stiltedly formal, something I tried to capture here. 
> 
> Also, while I love me a good LW x Charon fic now and then, I've always seen their relationship as a bit more familial....though that might be my own demi- tendencies getting in the way.


End file.
